So what do you do when there’s next to no snow and, consequently, no Snow Buntings around to catch? You go to the lab, open a net or two, and start banding local wintering birds. You also putter around the banding lab, getting new binders ready to go, putting reinforcers on data pages, and just plain watching out the window.

I just opened one net – 1A – and left it open for only 2.25 hours but it kept me busy: 16 banded and 18 retraps! Some of the retraps were “old” ones – birds that have been around for a few years or, in the case of some American Tree Sparrow, have returned from their northern breeding grounds to spend their Winters here.
Downy Woodpecker – banded September, 2009
White-breasted Nuthatch – August, 2008
Downy Woodpecker – August, 2008
Downy Woodpecker – March, 2007
Downy Woodpecker – October, 2005
American Tree Sparrow – January, 2009
American Tree Sparrow – March, 2008

Banded 16:
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
9 American Tree Sparrows
1 White-throated Sparrow (a small female with a ‘5’ fat load – weighed >28 g)
2 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 House Finches

Retrapped 18:
4 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Eastern Tufted Titmouse
1 Black-capped Chickadee
2 White-breasted Nuthatches
8 American Tree Sparrows
2 Dark-eyed Juncos

ET’s: 15 spp.

Rick